More African migrants reached Spain in 2018 than in the previous 8 years

The OIM places the figure for last year at over 56,000

2018 ended without any let-up in the constant flow of unauthorized African migrants arriving or being brought ashore in the Region of Murcia, and although the Costa Cálida received fewer during the year than in 2017 the picture in the whole of Spain was a very different one indeed.

During the last week of December 55 more migrants on board 5 small boats were intercepted in the Mediterranean and brought to the port of Cartagena, bringing the total for the year in the Region of Murcia to 1,660, around 400 fewer than in 2017 (according to the figures compiled by the central government delegation to the Region).

But this decrease is due almost entirely to the extraordinary wave of migrants heading for Murcia in October 2017, and in the whole of Spain the figure last year soared to at least 56,480, according to the International Organization for Migration. This is by far the highest number for any calendar year in this country, comfortably topping the 39,180 of 2006, and to put it into perspective it exceeds the total for the eight previous years combined.

In the early years of this decade it appeared that the unauthorized migration of Africans into the EU via southern Spain was relatively under control, with annual totals of between 3,000 and 5,500 being recorded until 2015. However, the upward trend began in 2016 with a total of 8,162 and then another 22,100 in 2017, before the tough stance adopted by the Italian and Maltese governments further east led to the western Mediterranean becoming the preferred route for the migrants and the people traffickers who facilitate their voyages.

The IOM also report that at least 769 migrants lost their lives in 2018 while attempting to cross to Spain, more than three times the figure for 2017, and that the majority of those heading towards the coasts of Andalucía and southern Spain were from Morocco (21 per cent), Guinea (20.8 per cent) or Mali (16.1 per cent).